Invisible seaming technique for a monolithic flooring



C. D. PAINTER A ril 1, 1970 INVISIBLE SEAMING TECHNIQUE FOR A MONOLITHIC FLOORING Filed Dec. 28, 1967 CHARLES D- PAINTER ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,504,469 INVISIBLE SEAMING TECHNIQUE FOR A MONOLITHIC FLOORING Charles D. Painter, Lancaster, Pa., assignor to Armstrong Cork Company, Lancaster, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Dec. 28, 1967, Ser. No. 694,294 Int. Cl. E04c 2/10; E04f 15/10 US. Cl. 52315 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Method and apparatus for producing a seamless flooring. A backing material containing a plurality of chips fastened thereto is fastened to a subfloor. Grouting is placed over the backing in the area between the chips so that the grouting and upper surface of the chips form the surface layer of the flooring. In order to hide the seam between abutting edges of the backing layer containing the chips, a scalloped edge is used to form the seam joint.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The invention herein is directed to an improved seam structure for the monolithic flooring set forth in the copending application Ser. No. 694,295, filed Dec. 28, 1967, and titled Monolithic Flooring.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The invention is directed to a seamless monolithic flooring. In particular, the invention is directed to a seam configuration which tends to conceal the joint between two adjacent sheets of flooring.

Description of the prior art The Almy et al. Patent No. 3,170,808, issued Feb. 23, 1965, utilizes a backing sheet, adhesive and tessera which are th same as the backing, adhesive and tessera of the seam less flooring disclosed herein. Patent No. 708,194, which issued Sept. 2, 1902, to G. H. Bennett discloses the use of a scalloped edge on a flooring material to provide a decorative pattern to the individual pieces forming the flooring. The latter patent is directed to a tile structure which uses the serrated pattern to form an interlock and decorative effect and is not in any way interested in securing concealment of floor seams. The former patent is directed to a sheet flooring and contains no disclosure of the means for joining adjacent sheets. The problem involved in the prior art is that of concealing the seam between adjacent pieces so as to provide a floor material that appears to span the total length and width of a room without showing that the flooring is composed of a plurality of pieces seamed together. The particular serrated seam structure used herein with a monolithic floor provides for a carefully concealed seam structure which is normally invisible to the average user of the flooring.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention is directed primarily to an edge structure for providing a seamless monolithic flooring. The flooring is made and applied in the manner set forth in the above-mentioned copending application. For ease of handling, the backing with the tesserae is cut into individual tiles which are positioned in abutting relationship. The grouting, when applied, will readily cover the seams between adjacent sheets of backing material. However, if the abutting edges were cut in a straight line, a straight-line pattern would appear through the chip pattern since the chips which are attached to the backing are also sheared along the straight line.

3,504,469 Patented Apr. 7, 1970 To conceal the seam between the adjacent sheets, the sheets are cut with a scalloped, peripheral edge design. The grouping readily covers the seam in the backing material, and the scalloped design tends to blend with the pattern of the tesserae and render the seam invisible.

The particular flooring material used here permits one to have a monolithic flooring which is quite flexible in design. The particular edge configuration for th backing sheet with the tesserae helps to render invisible the seam structure between the individual pieces which are united together to form the seamless monolithic flooring. Consequently, the flooring may be composed of small, easily handled pieces capable of extreme design flexibility, yet with a seam between the pieces to provide an overall flooring that appears as a seamless monolithic flooring because the seam in the finished fioor is normally invisible to the average observer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DMWING FIG. 1 is a top view of the backing sheet with the sealloped edges;

FIG. 2 is a top view of two mating pieces before jointure; and

FIG. 3 is a top view of two pieces after jointure with the grouting applied.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a backing sheet 2 with the tesserae 4 mounted thereon. The edge configuration 6 of the sheet is in a scalloped pattern which will permit a plurality of the sheets to be laid up in a side-byside relationship to form a complete floor covering. The tesserae are mounted on the backing sheet, and then the scalloped pattern is cut with a complete disregard of the chip layout, resulting in cuts being made through many of the chips. The edging design is of such a repeat nature that the mating of sheets can be easily accomplished Without any prealignment of the goods.

FIG. 2 discloses two sheets which have their edge configurations in a corresponding relationship so that the sheets may be made together when placed side by side. Placing the sheets together results in a pencil line seam between the two adjacent sheets. A grouting material is then applied to the mated sheets resulting in the structure shown in FIG. 3.

As can be seen in FIG. 3, the grouting completely conceals the seam line between two adjacent backing pieces. The tesserae 10, for example, have been cut when the sealloped pattern was formed on the edge of the backing sheet. However, due to the irregular nature of the chips, the cut surface of the individual chips 10 tends to blend in with the overall configuration of the chips. Consequently, for the most part, there is not even an indication that a seam exists; for example, see the areas marked 12. Due to the fact that the edges are in a scalloped pattern, even those chips which may appear to be cut do not readily line up with adjacent chips that appear to b cut. Because of the inability of the human eye to readily pick out a series of interconnected cut chips, the total effect is to provide the human eye with the appearance that no seam exists in the flooring.

While a sinusoidal scalloped edge has been shown in the drawing, the invention is not to be restricted to this particular type of scalloped surface. Other scalloped surfaces of different geometric designs could be used depending upon the size and the nature of the configuration for the tesserae being mounted on the backing sheet.

The particular backing now being used is a beater saturated, asbestos-fiber felt such as disclosed in the Feigley Patent No. 2,759,813, issued Aug. 21, 1957. Materials such as burlap, vinyl sheets and films and the like may also be used for the backing. The adhesive and tesserae are of the type disclosed in Almy et al. Patent No. 3,170,- 808, issued Feb. 23, 1965. The tesserae are fastened to the backing sheet in the manner set forth in the abovementioned patent.

The following formula will provide a composition suit able for use in the formation of the epoxy resin, all parts being given in percentage of weight:

EXAMPLE I Percent Epoxy resin, Araldite 508, a blend of a polyglycol epoxy resin with the condensation product of a bisphenol A-epichlorohydrin epoxy resin 17,25 Epoxy resin, Araldine 6004, reaction product of epichlorohydrin and 2,2-bis-(4-hydroxyl phenyl) propane, 5700 ceutipoises 31.89 Flow control agent, 60% solids silicon resin in xylene, 20 centipoises 1.29 Airout, silicone reacted with a tallate 0.43 Viscosity control agent, alkylate 31, inert diluent,

hydrocarbon 4.31 Limestone 17.25 White pigment color 1.29 Water 0.43 Curing agent, ajicure B00l, modified heterocyclic primary diarnine 2586 With the composition of Example I used in the formation of the epoxy resin, the following composition will provide a compatible urethane lacquer. In this example, all parts are given by percentage of weight:

EXAMPLE II Percent Urethane lacquer 98.1 Ultraviolet absorber, reaction product of an unsaturated diacid and an alcohol 0.4

Catalyst, dibutyltin dilaurate 1.5

Various modes of carrying out the invention are contemplated as being within the scope of the following claim particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which is regarded as the invention.

I claim:

1. A sheet material adapted for use in forming a seamless monolithic fiooring comprising a backing sheet, a plurality of whole and segmented tesserae mounted thereon in an irregular pattern configuration, said backing with the tesserae mounted thereon having a peripheral configuration which is a regular sinusoidal scallop-like design, the scallop-like edge configuration being formed irrespective of the edge configuration of the whole tesserae, the segmented tesserae being located adjacent the edge of the backing, and a portion of the edge of each segmented tesserae adjacent the peripheral edge of the backing sheet being co-planar with said peripheral edge.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 739,345 9/1903 Picha 52-311 708,194 9/1902 Bennett 52-590 712,168 10/1902 Worth 52-388 2,114,474 4/1938 Labra 52-390 2,130,911 9/1938 Teunon 52315 2,759,813 8/1956 Feigley 162155 3,170,808 2/1965 Almy et a]. 1l720 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,493,067 7/1967 France.

a HENRY C. SUTHERLAND, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 52392 

